There's Already A Shortage Of The New Girl Scout Adventurefuls Cookie
With a new year comes a new set of food shortages. Of these, the most devastating in 2022 may be that of Adventurefuls, the newest cookie sold by the Girl Scouts. According to NPR, the shortage is due to an unexpected demand for the treats and not enough supply. On the demand side, so many people ordered the new cookie — pairing caramel créme and sea salt — that orders had to be capped at 7% of what was hoped for. On the supply side, NPR reports there was a labor shortage at Little Brownie Bakers, one of the two cookie production plants used by the Girl Scouts of the USA, and production shifted to the other warehouse — though it seems they may not be able to keep up with the demand.
Theories have been put forth on the Girl Scouts Subreddit, but potential concerns over working conditions are pure speculation at this point. The issue could also be due to workers getting sick because of COVID and the raging Omicron variant — though again, there's no proof that's the case.
GSUSA, meanwhile, has provided a statement on the Adventurefuls shortage to Mashed. "While we had some short-term supply chain issues that unfortunately have impacted the availability of our new cookie Adventurefuls in some markets, girls are excited about this cookie's inclusion in the iconic line up," the statement reads, in part. GSUSA added that the shortage has only affected some local markets.
The Girl Scout cookie shortage follows a period of abundance
The current shortage of the new cookie Adventurefuls follows just six months after the Girl Scouts reported an overabundance of unsold cookies. As Food Manufacturing reported in June, there were 15 million boxes of cookies left unsold last year. The issue, as most might assume, was the ongoing pandemic. Girl Scouts normally sell their cookies in person, though they largely are the young age that would still have been unvaccinated by June 2021, which made it harder to sell the treats, the sales of which provide funding for local chapters and the larger organization. "The Girl Scouts normally sell around 200 million boxes of cookies per year, or around $800 million worth," says Food Manufacturing, adding that the money goes toward providing the scouts' activities and programming as well as travel and camps.
There is good news though as far as Girl Scout Cookie sales in 2022 are concerned. Per NPR — most of their beloved staples like Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas are in good shape and should be in abundant supply. And, Adventurefuls — for now at least — are still being sold online.